


Unresolved

by RubyCaspar



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Potential s1 finale spoilers, first time posting here so I have no idea what I'm doing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-24
Updated: 2014-03-24
Packaged: 2018-01-16 22:14:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1363633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyCaspar/pseuds/RubyCaspar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on spoilers for s1 finale - when Jake is fired, Amy is forced to confront her feelings for her partner... and can only hope it's not too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unresolved

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on the promos, so if you've seen those you're probably fine... but yeah, there may be potential spoilers for tomorrow night's finale, so if you want to stay totally spoiler-free you might want to avoid it!

**UNRESOLVED**

Three weeks after her dental emergency, Amy and Teddy finally found the time to have their weekend away again. It didn’t go as well as Amy had hoped it would.

It had been fine… the Berkshires were beautiful and the B&B was quaint and it was all lovely. But… well. Amy had met Teddy straight from the bust at the dance competition on the Friday, and she’d still been high on adrenaline and the thrill of undercover work. She’d told him all about Captain Holt’s unexpected prowess on the dance floor and how she and Jake had almost blown their cover when they gave up halfway through an attempted foxtrot and started doing the steerage jig from Titanic again instead (Jake’s idea). Teddy had made some offhand comment about Jake’s professionalism, something Amy couldn’t even remember now, and she had literally leapt to his defence. Like seriously – she called Jake unprofessional pretty much every day, but she had sort of lost it when Teddy did it.

It had soured the rest of the weekend. They didn’t talk about it again, but it was there. She couldn’t _believe_ that she’d let Peralta ruin her weekend like that. It wasn’t really Peralta’s fault, obviously, but why had she felt so strongly about it? Yes, they were friends, but Teddy was her _boyfriend…_ she was meant to side with him, right?

Anyway, whatever, so the weekend didn’t get off to a great start. And it was kind of cold and rainy so they were stuck inside… and it wasn’t the kind of place where you could spend the whole day in bed, even if you wanted to, which Amy didn’t. It wasn’t that she didn’t like having sex with Teddy – she did – but she couldn’t imagine spending the whole weekend doing it and nothing else.

They left earlier than planned on the Monday and got back to NYC early evening. Teddy had suggested dinner, and technically Amy was off until the next morning… but she’d told Teddy she needed to come in to check in with the squad before they left for the day. He hadn’t questioned her, and she had just given him a quick kiss and left.

She tried not to think too deeply about why she needed the space, or even that she needed the space at all.

So anyway, she was a bit disgruntled and confused as she approached the precinct that Monday evening, only to be confronted by the sight of Jake leaving the precinct with a carton in his hands. She felt the tension she’d been feeling the last couple of days drain away at the familiar sight of him, but snapped back to tense as she wondered _why_ she was so happy to see him.

Urgh, seriously. He was her partner, her _friend._ She was allowed to be pleased to see him. She wasn’t going to think about this too hard.

“Hey,” she called out as she got closer.

Jake started slightly at the sound, and Amy smirked a little.

“What are you doing here?” He asked her as he got closer.

Amy shrugged. “Just checking in,” she said, smiling to cover how uncomfortable she felt with the semi-lie. “What’s with the box?”

Jake looked at her in silence for a moment before answering. “I’ve been fired,” he said.

Amy’s smile faltered slightly. “What?”

“Fired,” Jake repeated. “Holt just fired me.”

Amy let out a short laugh. “Yeah right,” she said. “Nice try, Peralta.”

“I’m not kidding, Amy,” Jake said seriously. He started walking again, over to his car, and as he walked past her Amy saw that the box he held was full of stuff from his desk.

Amy felt her phone buzz in her pocket – she pulled it out with slightly fumbling fingers and saw that she had seven missed calls from Boyle, Rosa and Gina, three voicemails and eleven text messages; all from her subway ride where she’d had no signal. Why hadn’t she driven in?

Amy shoved her phone back in her pocket without checking the messages and hurried after Jake. “What the hell happened?” She demanded when she got close enough.

Jake had put the box on the roof of his car and was unlocking the door, but he stopped and turned to face her, folding his arms. He looked more serious than she had ever seen him and his stance was oddly… aggressive. She’d seen him use it on perps, but never had it turned on her.

“I’m done with following Holt’s rules,” he spat out. “He just threw out a case I’ve been working on for a month because of a mistake with the paperwork. He made me sit through a hearing at the DA’s office and then an auditor came in and ripped the case to shreds and did Holt do anything to back me up? Did he hell.”

Amy swallowed. “Well, he – ”

“Yeah yeah, I know he’s basically your god so save it,” Jake cut her off, “and that’s fine, dance to his tune if you’re fine with it, but I’m done.” He turned back to his car and resumed unlocking the door.

“Wait, did he fire you or did you quit?”

“Oh he fired me alright,” Jake said. “Told me my insubordination was the last straw.”

Amy shook her head. “We can fix this, Jake,” she said. “Did you try talking to him?”

“No, I threw my badge in his face and left.” Jake grabbed his box from the roof of the car and tossed it onto the back seat. Amy’s mouth fell open – he had to be kidding but… he looked so serious.

“To hell with him and to hell with the NYPD,” Jake practically snarled. He slammed the door shut and reached for the driver’s door.

“No!” Amy yelled, planting herself between him and the car door. “You’re not going anywhere until we sort this out.”

“There’s nothing to sort out,” he argued back, folding his arms again. “Holt put up with me breaking his stupid rules as long as I was useful, but he’s clearly decided he’s done with me and so that’s it. Goodbye Peralta.”

Amy shook her head again. “Jake –”

“Leave it, Santiago,” he said. “Just count your lucky stars you’re finally rid of me.”

Amy felt like he’d slapped her in the face. “I have never wanted to get rid of you,” she hissed angrily.

Jake gave her a disbelieving look, and she glared at him. “Never,” she repeated firmly. “You drive me crazy sometimes but you are a _great_ cop and the best partner I’ve ever had.”

Amy stopped suddenly, the truth of those words really hitting home for her. Jake couldn’t leave. She couldn’t imagine the Nine-Nine without him.

Jake glanced over his shoulder, back towards the building – a couple of beat cops were standing by the steps. Amy didn’t care – she was going to make him listen.

“You remember what you told me, when you said that the job sucks less because we get to work together? That’s exactly the way I feel about you. Jake, you can’t just go without a fight. You need to talk to Holt, you need to work this out. Please Jake, for me. You can’t leave me.”

Jake looked over his shoulder again – the cops were heading back into the building. Amy couldn’t believe that they could be watching something like this, seeing Jake Peralta being kicked out of the precinct when he basically was the precinct, and they weren’t doing anything. Why wasn’t anyone _doing_ anything?

Jake turned back to her, his expression softer but somehow more intense. “Listen, Amy –”

She didn’t know why she did it – honestly, she’d never be able to tell you how it happened. Was it the desperation of getting him to listen to her? The thought of him leaving her? The fear of not seeing him again? She didn’t know. All she did know is that she took a step forward, grabbed hold of the collar of that stupid leather jacket he always wore, and kissed him.

She cut him off in the middle of speaking, so his mouth was already a bit open and his breath hitched in his throat when her mouth crashed onto his. His lips closed on hers and for a split second it was like he was kissing her back but he couldn’t be because it was Jake and she was Amy and she was throwing herself at him when he was clearly in an awful place and _oh my god what the hell was she doing?!_

Amy pulled back abruptly. Jake’s arms had fallen down to his side and he stood perfectly still, blinking at her with a look of complete shock on his face. Amy felt her cheeks flame with embarrassment and was only glad that it was dark enough to hide it.

“I, um, yeah,” she said stupidly. “Sorry, I… sorry.”

Jake swallowed. “Amy –”

She shook her head. “I’m going to fix this, Jake,” she said. And with that she hurried past him and practically ran into the precinct. She didn’t look back until she got to the front doors, and it was to see his car pulling away from the curb.

*

Charles, Rosa and Gina were huddled around Hitchcock and Scully’s desks when she stormed out of the elevator, and all five of them turned to look at her with expressions of relief when she pushed through the gate into the pen.

“Santiago! Where the hell have you been?” Gina demanded.

“We tried to call you – Jake’s already gone,” Charles said.

Amy barely even looked at them – she marched straight past, making a beeline for Holt’s closed office door. She had to sidestep a broken wooden chair that was lying in the middle of the floor.

“Uh, Amy, I wouldn’t –” Charles started to say as she reached the door, but Amy ignored him and knocked.

She didn’t wait for an answer before going in and closing the door behind her.

Holt wasn’t alone – ordinarily Amy would be mortified that she’d interrupted him, but instead she just felt annoyance… she recognised the man in the chair; he was the guy from the DA that Jake had mentioned. The reason Jake had just been fired.

“Santiago, I am in the middle of a meeting,” Holt said, his voice and expression giving away absolutely nothing. Usually Amy loved the way he could stay so calm in the face of anything, but all she felt at that moment was anger – he’d just _fired_ Jake! Wasn’t he even the least bit upset about it?

“Sir, we need to talk about Peralta,” she said.

“There’s nothing to discuss,” Holt said. “Peralta has been fired for insubordination and incompetence. You’ll be without a partner for a while but I’m confident you will handle the situation with admirable capability. Dismissed.”

It was a sign of how far gone Amy was that she barely even registered the compliment. _“Incompetence?_ How could you possible accuse Peralta of incompetence? He’s your best detective!” She exclaimed.

“I am not prepared to argue this with you, Santiago. You’re not even supposed to be here.”

“I’m here because everyone’s lost their goddamn minds!” Amy yelled. “You _fired Peralta_. What were you thinking?!”

Holt stood up suddenly and Amy couldn’t help it – she took a step back. “I was thinking that I am the Captain of this precinct, not you, and if you do not leave this office at once and go home, you will suspended for the rest of the week,” Holt said, no longer sounding so calm. He looked angrier than Amy had ever seen him, and she had to swallow down the sudden lump in her throat.

“I-”

 _“Dismissed,_ detective.”

There had to be something she could say. Her eyes fell on Holt’s desk and the first thing she saw was Jake’s badge. The one he’d thrown at Holt. His _badge._

She turned on her heel and left the office.

“We already tried.”

It was Charles – he, Rosa and Gina were standing by her desk, looking at her with unmistakable pity in their eyes. She didn’t know why they should pity her – Jake leaving was going to affect all of them. Equally. Totally equally.

“What happened?” She asked, folding her arms to hide the fact that her hands were shaking.

“Peralta lost it,” Rosa said simply.

“No, he didn’t lose it,” Charles said, jumping to Jake’s defence as always. “He’d been working really hard on that case, all weekend, and then they threw it out and he… okay, yeah, he kind of lost it.”

“He threw a chair across the room and then got into a screaming match with Holt,” Gina supplied.

“It’s hardly surprising really,” Charles said after a moment. “He’s been so… stressed, lately.”

Amy was barely listening at this point. Her eyes had fallen on Jake’s desk – or what used to be Jake’s desk. Everything that had made it his was gone. The flags, the Yoda, that stupid red light that used to annoy her so much. It was just a desk.

Suddenly there was another lump in her throat and Amy knew she had to get out of there, right now. “I’ll see you guys in the morning,” she said quietly, and ignored their protests as she hurried across the room and into an elevator.

*

She went straight to Teddy’s. It was probably selfish of her, considering how she’d ditched him earlier in the evening, but she didn’t want to be alone, and she knew he’d understand.

Except he didn’t.

“Well, I hate to say it, but it sounds like he didn’t give Captain Holt much of a choice,” he said after Amy told him the story.

Amy shook her head. “I know he acted out, but there must have been some reason why. He wouldn’t behave like that unless there was something else wrong.”

Teddy shrugged – actually _shrugged._ “I don’t know – I know I don’t know the guy well but from everything I heard he has an ego on him and he doesn’t play by the rules,” he said. “It’s not surprising.”

“You’re right,” Amy said, glaring at him. “You _don’t_ know. You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. You don’t know Peralta at all, how dare you judge him like that!”

“Woah, Amy, I’m sorry, I’m just calling it like I see it,” Teddy said, holding up his hands.

“Yeah, well, get your eyes checked!” It wasn’t her best comeback ever, but her head wasn’t really in the game right then. Imagining the kind of joke Jake would have made at her expense had he been there just made her feel worse. Much worse.

“Why are you so upset about this?” Teddy asked her.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe because my _partner’s_ been _fired?!”_ Amy said angrily.

Teddy actually shrugged again. “Yeah, but you hate working with him.”

“What? No I don’t.”

“You’re always complaining about him. Every day you’re telling me some new story about something unprofessional or annoying he did that day.”

Amy gaped at him. “I don’t… that doesn’t mean I hate working with him. Peralta’s the best partner I’ve ever had!”

Teddy shook his head. “I don’t buy that,” he said. “I know you Amy, you like the rules, you get them, it’s what makes you a good cop – Peralta isn’t like that at all. You’ll be better off without him, you’ll see.”

Needless to say the conversation didn’t improve from there. Within twenty minutes the relationship was over and Amy was out of the door.

Amy tried to call Jake when she got home. It went straight to voicemail – she didn’t leave a message.

*

The precinct was oddly subdued the next day. The door to Holt’s office stayed closed all morning – Amy expected to be called in at any moment for a reprimand, but the Captain didn’t show his face all morning.

The others didn’t speak a lot, but when they did it was about Jake. Amy kept her head down, burying herself in the case he’d been working on, the one that had got him fired. It was a complicated case, and possibly linked to a gang they’d been skirting around for the past half a year; so she could understand why the DA had gotten so involved. The gang was run by guy called Ed Larkum, an ex-cop with a serious grudge against the NYPD, who had links to the cartel and to other local gangs, but so far they’d got nothing solid on him.

Jake had made a couple of mistakes in the initial stages of the case, but it wasn’t grounds for dismissal and there was no way the case should have been thrown out – what the hell was the DA thinking? She could completely understand why Jake had gotten so angry at Holt.

What she couldn’t understand was how Jake could have made such schoolboy errors in the first place. Yes he could sometimes be impetuous and not think things through, but he was good at his job and this wasn’t like him. Charles kept making weird allusions to Jake’s ‘stress levels’ and yeah, now that she thought about it, he had been a bit subdued the last few weeks.

Damnit – there was something wrong with Jake and she’d been too wrapped up with Teddy to see it. And now Teddy was gone and, more importantly, so was Jake.

She tried to call him again – still no answer.

*

_“You have one saved message. First message, saved today at seven-fifty-four AM: Hey, it’s Teddy. Look, I’m really sorry about last night. You were upset over what happened and I acted like a jerk. I should have been more understanding. I misunderstood your relationship with Peralta and I wasn’t as sympathetic as I should have been. Please let me make it up to you. Give me a call.”_

Amy sighed, staring at Teddy’s contact details on her phone. She could call him – she should call him. He’d text her a couple of times as well as leaving her the message, and he obviously felt terrible. But the truth was she… didn’t. She’d barely slept the night before, but she hadn’t been thinking about Teddy. It was the thought of Jake that had kept her up, and when she did think of Teddy it was only with annoyance.

Besides, she and Teddy had bigger problems than a stupid argument.

She had kissed Jake.

Somehow, in the midst of yelling at her boss and then breaking up with her boyfriend, Amy had managed to gloss over that particular detail. But once she was alone in her apartment there was no getting past it – she had kissed him. On the mouth. _She_ had kissed _him._

Oh my god.

_I misunderstood your relationship with Peralta…_

Forget about Teddy – Amy felt like maybe _she_ was the one who had misunderstood their relationship. Why in all hell had she done that? She’d never thought about Jake like that… okay, alright, maybe that wasn’t true. I mean, he was a good-looking guy, and when he wasn’t being an idiot (which to be honest she suspected was on purpose more often than not) he was really sweet and funny and she liked him.

She _liked_ him.

Oh _god._

Amy shook her head, and selected the send a message option under Teddy’s name. She typed out a quick message and sent it, feeling nothing but a slight twinge of guilt that she might have been inadvertently leading Teddy on for the past couple of months, deleted the voicemail and went back inside.

_Message to: Teddy. Sent today 13:44. Thanks for the message. I’m sorry but I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay together anymore. Take care Teddy. A._

*

The next day, Gina cornered Amy in the break room, and Charles and Rosa followed her in a few seconds later. Amy really didn’t want to talk about Jake, but she could see she wasn’t going to escape.

“Have any of you heard from Jake?” Gina asked, sounding and looking more serious than Amy had ever heard her.

“No,” both Rosa and Charles answered simultaneously. Charles raised an eyebrow at Amy. “Amy?”

She shook her head. “No – I’ve tried to call him, but it just goes to voicemail every time.”

“Same,” said Gina. “On my way in this morning I stopped by his apartment and he didn’t answer so I let myself in –”

Charles pulled a face. “I don’t think you’re allowed to do that, even if you are his land –”

“Whatever, Charles – the point is I don’t think he’s been back there since he left here.”

Amy swallowed. “What makes you think that?” She asked, trying to keep calm.

“Well his box of desk stuff wasn’t there,” Gina said. “And the place was really cold. There was loads of mail in the mailbox downstairs and his car wasn’t there either.”

“He’s probably just gone on a trip or something – the Nets were playing in Philly last night – maybe he drove down there,” Rosa said after a long moment.

“Yeah,” Charles said, though he looked a little sick. “He wouldn’t – I mean, it’s Jake. I’m sure he’s fine.”

Amy had to hide her shaking hands again, but she managed to keep her voice calm enough. “Three days,” she said. “Jake’s not an idiot – he knows that if we haven’t heard from him before tomorrow we would be worried. He’ll be in touch before then.”

“And if he isn’t?” Charles asked.

“Then we’ll worry,” Amy said quietly.

“Well I put an APB out on his car, I’ll let you know if anything comes up,” Gina said.

“Gina! You put an APB on Jake?!” Charles exclaimed.

“Nice work,” said Rosa.

“He’s gonna be so mad at you,” Charles said.

“I hope so,” was Gina’s only reply.

*

“Attention, everyone.”

It was a completely pointless thing to say – no one was talking. Holt had called them all into a briefing – showing his face for the first time in two days – and the sullen silence in the briefing room was palpable.

“We have received intelligence that Larkum and his men will be moving goods by the docks tonight. This is the best lead that we’ve had in the case for months, so I will need all officers on call.”

“Where did the intelligence come from?” Terry asked.

“From a credible source,” said Holt. “Let’s move on.”

Amy’s eyes narrowed. She did not believe in coincidences.

*

The second Amy saw Jake in the warehouse with the gang, she knew for sure. It all suddenly made sense, and she felt like a complete fool for not figuring it out earlier. Jake was going to laugh himself silly at her gullibility the second the sting was over.

How embarrassing.

As luck would have it, when the time came and the perps were on the ground, Amy was the one tasked with slapping cuffs onto Jake. She could see the others – Charles and Rosa and Terry – all eyeing her with concern, and looking at Jake with shock, and she had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Did they seriously not get it yet?

Reminding herself that the sting wasn’t over, Amy pulled Jake’s hands behind his back and got out her handcuffs. She put them on him but didn’t do them up – something told her it would be a stupid idea to take him out of the action – so they were left hanging loose on his wrists, out of sight of anyone else.

“You have the right to remain silent,” she muttered quietly so only he could hear her – he turned his head slightly so she could see his smirk.

There was a sudden thud from a few feet away and the next thing Amy knew a strong arm was wrapped round her waist, pinning her own arms to her side. She started to struggle but stopped immediately when she felt the cold barrel of a gun press against her temple.

She managed to look down enough to see Rosa out cold on the floor.

“Well this has been a lot of fun, but I think we’ll be going now,” Larkum said, dragging Amy with him as he backed up towards the exit. “Let my men go or the lady gets it.”

“Larkum, this is pointless,” Holt called out from across the room. Amy couldn’t see him, but he sounded as calm as ever, and it steadied her a little. “If you shoot her you will be dead a second later.”

“Well maybe I’m okay with that!” Larkum yelled. “The question is are you okay with one of yours dying too?”

Amy looked over at Jake, but he wasn’t there. Not being able to see him did more to steady her nerves than Holt’s calm ever could. It would all be over soon.

“I’m going to give you one last chance – let them go or I swear to god I will –”

There was a clink of metal on concrete from behind them, and Larkum spun round to see what it was. The gun was still pressed against her head but his grip on her loosened enough for her to drop down slightly so the gun was pointing at air. At that same moment, Jake grabbed Larkum’s wrist and pulled his arm upwards, punching him hard in the small of his back. The gun went off, shooting harmlessly towards the ceiling, and Larkum yelled in pain and anger. Amy dropped to a crouch and immediately swept her leg round, kicking out at his kneecap – that and the weight of Jake at his back was enough to bring Larkum down to the ground.

The gun went skidding across the floor and Amy kicked it further away, pulling out her own gun and training it on Larkum as Jake pressed his knee into his back and used Amy’s handcuffs to bind his wrists.

Jake looked up at Amy and gave her a small smile. “You want this one?” He asked.

Amy shook her head. “It’s your op.”

Jake’s smile widened. “Edward Larkum, you are under arrest…”

*

They all ended up at the bar, obviously. Everyone was so, so happy and relieved that it was all a cover and that Jake wasn’t really fired, and of course Amy was too. Of course she was. But… god, she had _yelled_ at Captain Holt, she had broken up with Teddy, she had moped around for two days, she had all but admitted to Jake’s face that he was a better detective than her, she had… she had _kissed_ him.

She hadn’t spoken to Jake yet but he kept giving her these _looks,_ and… and she just wanted to crawl under her comforter and never come back out.

Instead she allowed herself to be dragged out by the team. She tried to get out of it, saying that someone needed to take Rosa to the hospital to check her for concussion, but one of the stupid beat cops offered to drive her and she lost her chance of escape. Jake gave her a weird look when she reluctantly agreed to drinks, but didn’t say anything.

Holt congratulated her on her astute detective skills in figuring out that it was a cover and not handcuffing Peralta, leaving him free to bring down Larkum. Cue a weird look from Jake, who was standing nearby.

Holt also told her that he bore her no ill will for her ‘harsh words’ and hoped she extended him the same courtesy. She hastened to assure him of that fact, and tried to ignore the even weirder look Jake was now giving her.

Holt turned away from her to talk to Jake instead and Amy took it as an opportunity to escape. She wasn’t going to leave the bar – she couldn’t leave for at least another hour without raising eyebrows – but boy did she ever need a cigarette.

The roof garden was dark and empty – no one in their right mind would be outside on the roof on such a freezing night – but Amy was pretty sure she wasn’t in her right mind. She was dreading having to face Jake alone, and it showed how far from okay she was that she only realised as she was lighting up that she should never have separated herself from the pack if that was the case...

“Those things will kill you.”

…Because of course he would follow her. She sighed and stuffed her unlit cigarette into her jacket pocket.

Amy took a deep breath and turned to face him. “Hi.”

“Are you ok?” He asked. “You’ve been… quiet.”

“I’m fine,” Amy said quickly. Too quickly. She shrugged. “Long day.” She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Well done. You did really well – it was good work.”

“Thanks. You too. When you didn’t cuff me I thought Holt had told you – but you figured it out alone?”

Amy shrugged again, looking down at her hand on the railing.

This time Jake cleared his throat awkwardly. “Look, I’m sorry we didn’t let you in on it properly.”

“It’s fine, I understand,” Amy said, completely truthfully. “It was a one-man op.” She really did understand – they were no room for her on an op like that – as well as having a huge grudge, Larkum was also a massive misogynist. He would never have let a woman get close to his gang.

“Yeah, but, I still wanted to tell you,” Jake said. He’d come closer while she’d been staring at her hand, and was only a couple of feet away. “I almost did, in the parking lot…”

Amy looked up at Jake, but he was staring down at the floor, his hands shoved in his pockets. She couldn’t really tell because it was so dark, but she thought that maybe he was blushing. She thought back to that moment she kissed him, and remembered that he’d been about to say something.

Jeez she was an idiot.“Ah,” she said weakly.

Jake shrugged again. “I knew that... I mean, I thought that you would be… you know, unhappy that I’d been fired,” he said. He looked up at her than and gave her a small smile. “Thanks for being unhappy that I was fired, by the way.”

Amy managed a small smile back. “You’re welcome.”

“And thanks for what you said. It… it means a lot to me that you like having me around, because you know I feel the same way, right?” Jake spoke quickly, and he was _definitely_ blushing now, and the smile Amy gave him this time was real.

“Yeah,” she said.

Jake nodded and looked away again, and suddenly it was back to awkward. Amy sighed inwardly – this was going to be awful, but there was no way they’d get past it if they didn’t talk about it, no matter how painful it would be for the next few minutes.

“Listen, Jake… about what happened…”

“It’s okay,” he said immediately, cutting her off. “You don’t have to, it’s fine –”

Amy shoved her hands into her pockets and looked at anything but him. “I think we should probably talk about it.”

There was a moment’s silence before Jake spoke up again. “You don’t need to explain,” he said quietly. “You were – upset, and it was just in the moment, and we can just forget about it.”

Amy looked up at him then and saw that he was staring out over the railing, at the dark building opposite. Well, what did she expect him to say? That it was the best kiss of his life and he wanted to date her now? Did she even _want_ him to say that? No. Well, not really. Her feelings for Jake were so new to her that she wasn’t sure _what_ she wanted – and anyway, he was actually right. At the time she hadn’t admitted to herself that she liked him, so it _had_ been in the moment.

This was for the best.

“Okay,” she said. “Thanks.” He nodded, still not looking at her, and Amy sighed. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

Jake looked down at his feet at her words, and Amy braced herself for some kind of joke – maybe about her kissing technique or something equally mortifying. Instead, though, he muttered “I am going to regret this” under his breath and turned to face her, meeting her eyes with an intensity not unlike what made her kiss him in the first place.

“Amy, you didn’t make me uncomfortable,” he said seriously. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for months.”

Amy blinked at him. “What?”

“I have this ridiculously… _stupidly_ huge crush on you, I can’t even – you’re all I think about.”

Amy tried not to get distracted by the sight of his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed nervously. “Months?” She repeated weakly.

“Boyle called me out on it, the night of our… _date,”_ Jake said. “And he was right and I…” He let out a frustrated breath before continuing. “I promised myself I wasn’t going to say anything, but I don’t want you thinking that I was uncomfortable or you did anything wrong. Okay?”

Amy stared at him in silence, unable to think of what to say and unsure she’d be able to speak even if she did. Jake Peralta had just… just told her he liked her and had liked her for _months_ – since their date in January? Suddenly she couldn’t stop thinking of his odd behaviour recently – behaviour she’d ignored or just chalked up to him being, you know, _him_ – how he’d started being just that little bit nicer to her, kept bringing her coffee and her favourite candy, how he’d reacted when she’d had that interview at Serious Crimes and… and god – now that she actually thought about it, how so _obviously_ jealous he was of Teddy.

There was no way she should be allowed to be a detective. How had she not seen that earlier?

The silence dragged on a little too long, and Jake kind of nodded sadly before turning to go back inside.

The sight of his back to her helped Amy find her voice. “Why did you promise yourself not to say anything?” She asked.

Jake stopped mid-step and turned back to her. “Because you have Teddy,” he said, meeting her eyes with a resigned look on his face. “You’re happy with Teddy and… okay, I can’t really say I’m happy for you because the truth is that whenever I think about him and you together I want to punch something, but I _want_ to be happy for you, you know?”

Amy took a deep breath to stop herself from grinning because, come on, that was a little bit adorable.

“We broke up,” she said softly.

Jake’s eyes widened. “When?”

“Monday night,” Amy told him. She shrugged. “I didn’t think it was fair to stay with him when I clearly have unresolved feelings for…” she gave him a small, bashful smile, “…someone else.”

The famous Peralta grin was suddenly all over his face. Amy couldn’t help but grin back – it really had been a long time since she’d seen him smile like that, and she loved being the cause. 

She watched with amusement as he valiantly tried to rein his smile in. “Sorry to hear that,” he said after a moment, still grinning like a fool. Amy started to laugh, and Jake joined in, and for a minute they were just laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole situation.

Eventually they sobered up. Jake was looking at her with the dopiest grin, but Amy was fairly certain her own grin was just as embarrassing.

“So…” Jake said.

“So?”

“So I think maybe I should kiss you now.”

“Well it is your turn.”

Jake smirked and Amy barely had time to return it before he stepped forward and kissed her. It was like he was wrapping himself around her – his arms enveloped her and pulled her towards him as his mouth slanted over hers, intense and eager and full of a deeper emotion she just hadn’t had with Teddy. Amy snaked her arms under Jake’s jacket and around his back and gave herself up to it, pushing onto her toes to meet him. When he started to pull away she tightened her grip on his waist and darted forward for another kiss – it being back to her turn and all – and that led to another, and another, and another…

Amy had lost track of how long they’d been kissing by the time they finally broke apart. They kept their arms around each other, and when Amy sunk back down to her flat feet Jake followed her, leaning down and resting his forehead against hers.

“Woah,” he said simply. Amy giggled and then they were back to grinning at each other like idiots.

“So…” said Amy.

“So?”

“Well? Aren’t you going to ask me out?”

Jake grinned. “Nope. It’s _definitely_ your turn for that.”

Amy laughed. “Does that mean I get to choose what you wear?”

“Hmm… I don’t know, I have a very sophisticated and somewhat undefinable style.”

“Basically just not shorts would be great.”

“Oh well if you want to tell me what _not_ to wear, I’m all ears.”

“Oh god, dating you is going to be the worst…”

“I haven’t actually heard anyone ask anyone out on a date yet. Just sayin’.”

Amy groaned. “Seriously, the _worst…”_

She was smiling though, and so was he, and when she kissed him again she felt pretty sure that he got what she really meant… which was basically the opposite.

**THE END.**


End file.
